?Location: The Grand Plaza – The Gate of Trials (Exterior)
Time: Day 7 – Noon (Post-Extraction)
?The blue vortex swirled and spat out bodies like seeds.
?Cultivators landed on the dragon-scale pavement of the Grand Plaza—some rolling, some collapsing, some screaming for healers. The air smelled of burnt flesh, ozone, and fear.
?Aris (Han Xiao) stumbled out of the portal and face-planted onto the cool stone. He lay there, twitching slightly.
?"I'm alive..." Aris whimpered into the stone, loud enough for the nearby medics to hear. "I... I saw hell..."
?Mo stepped out behind him, his iron mask scorched black from the heat of the Magma Dragon, but his posture unbroken. He knelt beside Aris, playing the role of the loyal, battered servant.
?[System Scan: Active]
[Observer: Elder Void-Whisper (Level 85).]
[Observation Status: Indifferent.]
?The Elder stood on a floating dais above the chaos, looking down at the survivors with cold, dead eyes.
?"Four hundred and twelve," the Elder announced. His voice wasn't loud, but it silenced the whimpering crowd instantly. "Out of ten thousand."
?He stroked his beard.
?"An acceptable harvest. The weak have been filtered."
?Suddenly, the portal flared one last time.
?A block of ice shot out, shattering on the pavement to reveal a furious, shivering Lady Lin. Moments later, a blackened, smoking figure crashed down—Iron-Mountain. His bronze skin was cracked, his armor melted to his chest.
?"HAN XIAO!" Iron-Mountain roared, struggling to his feet. He pointed a trembling finger at the cowering Alchemist. "HE DID IT! HE WOKE THE DRAGON!"
?The attention of the entire plaza shifted to the shivering lump in grey robes.
?Elder Void-Whisper raised an eyebrow. He floated down, landing softly between the giant and the alchemist.
?"Explain," the Elder commanded.
?"He threw the artifact into the lava!" Iron-Mountain shouted, spitting blood. "He sabotaged the blockade! He tried to kill us all!"
?The Elder turned his gaze to Aris. The pressure of a Dao Severing expert descended like a mountain.
?"Is this true, Initiate?"
?Aris looked up, tears streaming down his dusty face.
?"I... I tripped, Exalted One!" Aris wailed. "They were chasing me! They wanted to kill me! I dropped my box! I didn't know there was a dragon! I just wanted to go home!"
?The Elder looked at Aris.
Level 25. Weak foundation. Unstable aura. Pathetic demeanor.
?Then he looked at Iron-Mountain.
Level 62. Top-tier genius. War-veteran.
?"You are telling me," the Elder said dryly, "That a Foundation Establishment trash managed to outrun you, steal your prize, and outsmart you?"
?Iron-Mountain froze. Put that way, it sounded humiliating.
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?"I... it was luck! He has devil's luck!"
?"Luck is a form of strength," the Elder scoffed. He waved his hand. A gust of wind knocked Iron-Mountain back. "Silence. You failed to secure the perimeter. Do not blame your incompetence on a terrified alchemist."
?The Elder turned to the crowd.
?"Line up. Core inspection. If you do not have ten cores, you will be stripped of your cultivation and thrown out."
?Location: The Inspection Table
Time: 10 Minutes Later
?The line moved slowly. Disciples handed over their bloody trophies. Some were rejected for having low-quality cores. Screams followed as they were dragged away by the Sect Enforcers.
?Aris stepped up to the table. He was sweating (method acting).
?The artifact—the Beast King's Heart—was safely tucked inside his System Inventory. Unlike spatial bags, which existed in a sub-dimension that high-level Elders could scan, the System Inventory existed in a separate reality entirely. To the Elder, Aris's pockets were empty except for trash.
?"Name?" the Inspector asked.
?"Han Xiao."
?Aris dumped a small bag onto the table.
?Ten Beast Cores rolled out. They were mostly from Rank 2 beasts (Level 20-30). The bare minimum.
?The Inspector sneered. "Scavenged from leftovers, I assume?"
?"Yes, sir," Aris nodded vigorously. "I hid in bushes. I waited for the big beasts to die."
?"Pathetic," the Inspector stamped a piece of paper. "But... valid. Passing Grade: Low."
?He handed Aris a grey wooden token.
?"Welcome to the Outer Sect, Disciple Han Xiao. Report to the Alchemy Division - Waste Processing Unit. You will be cleaning cauldrons until you prove useful."
?Aris took the token with trembling hands. "Thank you! Thank you, Exalted One!"
?He grabbed Mo and hurried away, disappearing into the crowd of accepted disciples.
?As they walked away, Aris's internal monologue was calm and cold.
?"Waste Processing Unit. Perfect. Access to volatile chemicals, zero supervision, and nobody visits because of the smell. I couldn't have picked a better base of operations myself."
?Location: Outer Sect – Alchemy Division – Barracks 9 (The Dumps)
Time: Night
?The room was small, smelling of sulfur and rotting herbs. It was located at the very edge of the sect, overlooking the garbage chutes where failed pills were dumped.
?Mo stood by the door, scanning for bugs.
?"Clear," Mo said.
?Aris dropped the act instantly. He sat on the hard wooden bed and cracked his neck.
?"That was exhausting," Aris sighed. "Being weak is hard work."
?He opened his System Interface.
?[Quest Complete: Infiltration.]
[Reward: Identity Secured (Outer Disciple).]
?"Now," Aris whispered. "The main course."
?He waved his hand. The Beast King's Heart appeared.
?The room instantly heated up. The red crystal pulsed, lighting up the dingy walls. The heartbeat was louder now—THUMP-THUMP.
?"Mo, set up the Void-Silence Array. Double layers. If any energy leaks out of this room, we're dead."
?Mo nodded. He placed four black flags in the corners of the room. A barrier of silence erected itself, cutting them off from the rest of the universe.
?Aris held the crystal in his hands.
?[Item: The Beast King's Heart]
[Consume?]
?"The Abyssal Sovereign Body is hungry," Aris muttered. "It's been running on standard Qi for too long. It needs meat."
?He didn't swallow the crystal whole. That would be suicide.
?Instead, he placed it on his chest, directly over his heart.
?[Skill: Abyssal Devour]
?His skin turned transparent violet. Black veins shot out from his chest, wrapping around the red crystal.
?The crystal screamed—a psychic sound of a dying beast—as it was dissolved.
?Liquid fire poured into Aris's chest.
?"ARGH!"
?Aris gritted his teeth, arching his back. His bones cracked. His blood boiled.
?System Alert: DNA rewriting in progress. Integrating Behemoth Bloodline.
Warning: Pain levels critical.
?Aris ignored the warning. Pain was just data.
?He focused on guiding the energy. He directed the power into his muscles, his marrow, and his skin.
?[Upgrade: Physique Tier 2 -> Tier 3.]
[New Passive Acquired: The Unbroken Skin.]
[New Passive Acquired: High-Gravity Tolerance.]
?An hour later, the light faded. The crystal was gone.
?Aris sat up. He looked the same—lean, pale, unassuming. But when he clenched his fist, the air around his hand distorted from pure physical mass.
?He tapped the stone wall next to him.
?Crack.
?He didn't hit it. He just tapped it. The stone crumbled like dry cake.
?"Physical strength increased by 500%," Aris analyzed. "I can now trade blows with a Level 80 cultivator using just my body."
?He stood up and looked out the window at the towering golden pagodas of the Inner Sect in the distance.
?"Phase 1 complete," Aris smiled. "Now, I need to find the library. There's a specific technique I need to steal before the next full moon."
?[Abyssal Nexus: End of Chapter Status]
?Host: Aris Thorne (Alias: Han Xiao)
Identity: Outer Disciple (Waste Processing Unit).
Level: 71 (Half-Step Divinity).
Physique: Abyssal Behemoth Body (Tier 3).
?Effect: Physical immunity to attacks below Level 60.
Can crush Spirit Weapons with bare hands.
?Current Wealth:
?25,000 Spirit Stones (Hidden). ?
10 Spirit Stones (Official Salary).
